Brass door knobs stolen

Brass door knobs and house numbers have been stolen from front doors in Wednesbury by metal thieves. Nine door knobs were taken overnight.

Police believe they will be sold on by crooks cashing in on rising prices of materials such as brass, lead and steel.

Thieves armed with a screwdriver removed house numbers and door knobs, meaning some people could not get out of their houses in the morning.

Two homes in Yew Tree Lane and others in Price Road, Oxford Street, William Green Road, Chestnut Road, Coronation Road, Holden Road and Moor Street were all targeted overnight last Thursday.

Melanie Mansell, aged 37, in Holden Road, noticed her door knob was missing on Friday morning.

She said: "We noticed it was missing when we came down on Friday morning so it must have happened on Thursday night. We couldn't open the front door."

Det Ch Insp Danny Long, of north Sandwell police, said officers had been visiting scrapyards to check if anyone had been offered the brass.

He said the success of the police force's Operation Steel had meant thieves were changing tactics moving away from stealing lead from buildings or taking low value cars to be scrapped.